Post by chassroc on Apr 18, 2012 13:57:32 GMT -5
From that Great Liberal News Source"Bloomberg Business week"
President Barack Obama campaigned in 2008 on tax cuts for most Americans and tax increases for the fortunate few. He has delivered on the breaks and, for the most part, been unable to follow through on attempts to raise taxes.
Obama turned his call for middle-income tax breaks into law within a month of taking office, incorporating a $400-a-person tax credit for workers into the 2009 stimulus law. In late 2010, with the economy still weak and Republicans gaining political clout, Obama agreed to an $858 billion tax cut that extended all of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for two years.
“The tax policy has been substantially in the conservative direction whereas the rhetoric has gone in the exact opposite direction,” said Don Susswein, a tax aide to former Republican Senator Bob Dole who said he supported Obama in 2008.
Today, as Americans reach the fourth annual tax-filing deadline since Obama became president, they are encountering a tax system that relies on the architecture he inherited from Bush. On top of that regime, Obama has added targeted tax breaks for small businesses, college students and low-income families, along with some tax increases for top earners to finance the expansion of health insurance coverage.
‘Not Hugely Different’
“The tax system is not hugely different from what it was in 2008,” said Leonard Burman, a professor at Syracuse University in New York who worked in the Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton. “The tax system is still too complicated, still unfair and still doesn’t raise enough money to pay for the government.”
The recession and Obama’s tax cuts pushed federal revenue as a share of the economy to a 60-year low. Income tax rates haven’t changed. The estate tax affects fewer people and at a lower rate than when Obama took office. Workers’ payroll taxes were reduced during 2011 and 2012.
Many of the major tax provisions of the 2010 health law haven’t taken effect. Tax credits to help people purchase health insurance begin in 2014 and tax increases on the wages and investment income of the highest earners start in 2013.
Campaign Promises
“The president has been very successful in following through on the promises that he made in the campaign,” said Jason Furman, who advised Obama during the campaign and is now deputy director of the National Economic Council. “The core promise was that he wasn’t going to raise taxes on middle-class families.”
During the campaign, Obama made a distinction between the majority of taxpayers and top earners -- who he defined as individuals making more than $200,000 a year and married couples making more than $250,000.
“I can make a firm pledge: Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase -- not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,” he said in a Sept. 12, 2008, speech in Dover, New Hampshire.
Still, Obama has signed bills -- particularly the health- care law -- that raised taxes paid by some people who earn less than $250,000 a year.
‘Didn’t Keep His Word’
The 2010 health law included a new 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning, a higher threshold for taxpayers to itemize the medical-expense deduction and limits on using tax-advantaged accounts for over-the-counter drugs. The law eventually will require taxes for high-cost health insurance plans and impose a penalty on people who don’t purchase insurance.
“He didn’t keep his word on that,” said Grover Norquist, the anti-tax activist, who maintains a list of Obama-backed tax increases for middle-income households on the website of his group, Americans for Tax Reform. “I’m sure he told the truth somewhere and we missed it.”
Austan Goolsbee, who advised Obama during the campaign and in the White House, cautioned against singling out a portion of the health care law.
“Middle class taxes are way down,” said Goolsbee, who has returned to his previous job as a business school professor at the University of Chicago. “The president cut taxes for virtually everyone in the country, and I kinda think that one speaks for itself.”
Average Income Tax
In 2010, the average income tax rate for a median-income family was 4.55 percent, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. From 1955 through 2007, that rate hadn’t been lower than 5.34 percent.
Obama hasn’t been able to end the Bush-era tax cuts for the highest earners or raise taxes for private equity managers. Each of his budget proposals called for allowing the tax cuts for high earners to expire, pushing the top income tax rate to 39.6 percent from 35 percent. He also has proposed higher tax rates for the capital gains and dividends of top earners, along with caps on deductions and other tax breaks for that group.
Charlie
Again my friends on the Right seem to have this advanced alzheimers and confuse fantasy and reality.
They seem to imagine Socialists and Communists hiding under every rock even the ones that are balanced middle to middle
President Barack Obama campaigned in 2008 on tax cuts for most Americans and tax increases for the fortunate few. He has delivered on the breaks and, for the most part, been unable to follow through on attempts to raise taxes.
Obama turned his call for middle-income tax breaks into law within a month of taking office, incorporating a $400-a-person tax credit for workers into the 2009 stimulus law. In late 2010, with the economy still weak and Republicans gaining political clout, Obama agreed to an $858 billion tax cut that extended all of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for two years.
“The tax policy has been substantially in the conservative direction whereas the rhetoric has gone in the exact opposite direction,” said Don Susswein, a tax aide to former Republican Senator Bob Dole who said he supported Obama in 2008.
Today, as Americans reach the fourth annual tax-filing deadline since Obama became president, they are encountering a tax system that relies on the architecture he inherited from Bush. On top of that regime, Obama has added targeted tax breaks for small businesses, college students and low-income families, along with some tax increases for top earners to finance the expansion of health insurance coverage.
‘Not Hugely Different’
“The tax system is not hugely different from what it was in 2008,” said Leonard Burman, a professor at Syracuse University in New York who worked in the Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton. “The tax system is still too complicated, still unfair and still doesn’t raise enough money to pay for the government.”
The recession and Obama’s tax cuts pushed federal revenue as a share of the economy to a 60-year low. Income tax rates haven’t changed. The estate tax affects fewer people and at a lower rate than when Obama took office. Workers’ payroll taxes were reduced during 2011 and 2012.
Many of the major tax provisions of the 2010 health law haven’t taken effect. Tax credits to help people purchase health insurance begin in 2014 and tax increases on the wages and investment income of the highest earners start in 2013.
Campaign Promises
“The president has been very successful in following through on the promises that he made in the campaign,” said Jason Furman, who advised Obama during the campaign and is now deputy director of the National Economic Council. “The core promise was that he wasn’t going to raise taxes on middle-class families.”
During the campaign, Obama made a distinction between the majority of taxpayers and top earners -- who he defined as individuals making more than $200,000 a year and married couples making more than $250,000.
“I can make a firm pledge: Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase -- not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,” he said in a Sept. 12, 2008, speech in Dover, New Hampshire.
Still, Obama has signed bills -- particularly the health- care law -- that raised taxes paid by some people who earn less than $250,000 a year.
‘Didn’t Keep His Word’
The 2010 health law included a new 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning, a higher threshold for taxpayers to itemize the medical-expense deduction and limits on using tax-advantaged accounts for over-the-counter drugs. The law eventually will require taxes for high-cost health insurance plans and impose a penalty on people who don’t purchase insurance.
“He didn’t keep his word on that,” said Grover Norquist, the anti-tax activist, who maintains a list of Obama-backed tax increases for middle-income households on the website of his group, Americans for Tax Reform. “I’m sure he told the truth somewhere and we missed it.”
Austan Goolsbee, who advised Obama during the campaign and in the White House, cautioned against singling out a portion of the health care law.
“Middle class taxes are way down,” said Goolsbee, who has returned to his previous job as a business school professor at the University of Chicago. “The president cut taxes for virtually everyone in the country, and I kinda think that one speaks for itself.”
Average Income Tax
In 2010, the average income tax rate for a median-income family was 4.55 percent, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. From 1955 through 2007, that rate hadn’t been lower than 5.34 percent.
Obama hasn’t been able to end the Bush-era tax cuts for the highest earners or raise taxes for private equity managers. Each of his budget proposals called for allowing the tax cuts for high earners to expire, pushing the top income tax rate to 39.6 percent from 35 percent. He also has proposed higher tax rates for the capital gains and dividends of top earners, along with caps on deductions and other tax breaks for that group.
Charlie
Again my friends on the Right seem to have this advanced alzheimers and confuse fantasy and reality.
They seem to imagine Socialists and Communists hiding under every rock even the ones that are balanced middle to middle